WA: All states should probe sexual abuse of Aboriginal children

AAP General News (Australia)
12-10-2001
WA: All states should probe sexual abuse of Aboriginal children

A consultant says sexual abuse of children is a problem in Aboriginal communities throughout
Australia, and other states should follow the West Australian government's lead and probe
the problem.

The WA government has announced an inquiry into the sexual abuse of Aboriginal children
following an inquest which found that sexual and solvent abuse had played a big part in
the death of a 15-year-old girl.

SUSAN ANNE TAYLOR was found hanging in an ablution block at a Perth Aboriginal camp
on February 12, 1999.

The inquest into her death, held last month, was told she had been a chronic paint
sniffer who'd suffered sexual abuse at the hands of community members at the Swan Valley
Nyoongar camp in Perth's eastern suburbs.

PAM GREER -- a New South Wales consultant on violence in Aboriginal communities --
says child abuse is widespread in Aboriginal communities and the other states should also
probe the problem of sexual, and other, abuse.

AAP RTV lk/klw/jtb

KEYWORD: DOMESTIC (PERTH)

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